Beacon Academy's Fox Huntsman
by Rave Rose of Twilight
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki, the last of his family and Fox Faunus, was raised under the beliefs of the old White Fang. Raised by his grandfather and with the help of his friends, both old and new, and a budding romantic relationship, watch as Naruto fights against all odds to protect those precious to him. No foe can ever hope to stand against him so long as he holds onto his beliefs. R&R


**Beacon Academy's Fox Huntsman**

**Written By: Rave Rose of Twilight**

**Warning: I don't own RWBY, Naruto, or Final Fantasy. I just got started watching RWBY and it's so awesome I couldn't help but start a fiction for it. Call it a weakness of mine. Also, for any questions bound to come up concerning Naruto's weapon, check out Squall/Leon's Gunblade and instead of a revolver, it becomes a giant shotgun with a revolver-style chamber like Weiss's rapier.**

Chapter One: From Dust Till Dawn: Path of the Fox Huntsman

_Legends. Stories scattered through time. Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains. Forgetting so easily that we are remnants, byproducts of a forgotten past. Man, born from Dust, was strong, wise, and resourceful, but he was born into an unforgiving world. An inevitable darkness, creatures of destruction, the creatures of Grimm, set their sights on man and all of his creations. These forces clashed and it seemed the darkness was intent on returning man's brief existence to the void. However, even the smallest spark of hope is enough to ignite change. And in time, man's passion, resourcefulness, and ingenuity led them to the tools that would help them even the odds._

_This power was appropriately named: Dust._

_Nature's wrath in hand, man lit their way through the darkness. And in the shadow's absence came strength, civilization, and, most importantly, life. But even the most brilliant lights eventually flicker and die. And when they are gone, darkness will return. So you may prepare your guardians. Build your monuments to a so-called free world. But take heed. There will be no victory in strength._

_But perhaps victory is in the simpler things you've long forgotten. Things that require a small, more honest, soul._

It was a dark and cloudless night in the city of Vale. A small group of men wearing black suits and red ties were walking toward a small store that went by the name From Dust Till Dawn. Leading them was a man with orange hair wearing a black bowler with a red stripe, a white suit jacket and slacks with red liner, a gray scarf, and black undershirt carrying a cane.

As they walked through the door, they noticed a young man with spiky blond hair and blue eyes attending the register. He wore a black beret, an orange shirt, black pants and boots, and had something strapped to his back. Likely a weapon of some kind. On his belt and beret were red spirals and a small orange pouch on his left hip. Currently, he had his nose almost buried in a magazine that had a beautiful woman wearing skimpy lingerie and holding different styles of weapons.

The instant the door opened and the bell above the mantle rang, the young man sighed to himself. "Welcome to From Dust Till Dawn. How can I help you, boss?"

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late," the orange-haired man asked as his partner drew his pistol and aimed it at the blond.

"Dunno," the young man answered truthfully before folding the top of his magazine toward himself and looking down the barrel of the pistol. "Does Dickless here have to point a pistol in my face if I'm not even going to bother stopping you?"

The man looked like he really wanted to pull the trigger, but the orange-haired man put his hand on the pistol and put a box full of Dust collection cylinders on the table top. "Grab the Dust," he ordered them. Each of them grabbed one cylinder and split up. Two went to the powdered Dust dispensers on the left side of the shop while the other two went to the right side's Dust dispensers. "Crystals. Firm. Uncut," he demanded the blond, who raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry, boss," the young man said. "My boss took the keys to the cabinet home for the night. I can't get the crystals for you."

"Then break the glass," he demanded.

Before the cashier could make a remark, one of the thugs had been sent flying from one side of the store. The orange-haired man looked at the cashier, who shrugged his shoulders, before looking at another thug and motioning for him to check it out. Seconds later, that thug was seen flying with a girl wearing a black and red dress with a red hooded cloak on his chest. They shattered the window, which caused the cashier to silently and mentally cry at the sight and sound of his hard-earned Lien flying out the window.

The girl stood up as her gun transformed into a wicked-looking crimson scythe. "Okay," the orange-haired guy said as he and the remaining members of his group watched her get ready to fight. "Get her," he ordered his remaining thugs.

Directly behind him, the sound of a weapon transforming, much like the sound that came from the girl's scythe, had echoed through his ears. "I probably should have mentioned," the cashier said as an orb of purple glowed at the barrel of his weapon, a blocky-looking shotgun with a revolver-style chamber on it. "No smoking near highly-volatile substances, Dickless."

With a pull of the trigger, what could only be described as an explosion echoed down the streets while the man with orange hair was sent flying out of the building's front door and a little bit past the street.

By the time the girl was done with her enemies, she looked over at the entrance of the door to the cashier holding a rectangular gun with smoke coming from the barrel. She waved at him with a glowing smile. "Hey, Naruto!"

The man, now known as Naruto, only chuckled as he shook his head. "Hello to you too, Ruby Rose," he said before looking over her shoulder by craning his neck slightly. "Erm...I didn't accidentally kill that bum, did I?"

That 'bum' as Naruto called him was fighting his every instinct as he tried to stand up. His body was billowing smoke and dust from the earlier explosion. "Looks like I picked the wrong store to rob," the man said out loud before aiming his cane at the duo. "I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening and as much as I'd love to stick around, I'm afraid this is where we part ways." A red dot sight popped up and a flare of Dust shot toward Ruby and Naruto, who jumped up into the air using the recoil from their weapons. As soon as the two landed, the leader of the group had disappeared up the ladder of a nearby building's fire escape.

Ruby looked over to Naruto. "You go find that no good, Dust-stealing bum," he said. "Once the police show up to arrest his associates, I'll join up with you."

She nodded and launched herself up to the roof while Naruto sat down on the stoop and opened up his magazine while waiting for the police to arrive. As Naruto continued to wait, he could hear the tell-tale signs of explosions occurring on the roof. All he could do was hope that Ruby was safe. A few minutes later, the police cars all arrived and Naruto sighed in relief. He walked up to the police chief and jabbed his thumb to the knocked out villains. "These bums tried to rob my grandpa's store of Dust. Luckily, they didn't make it out of the store with any of the powdered Dust cylinders they brought with them, but the guy who was leading them is on the roof trying to escape. My friend from Signal Academy went up there to confront him, but she needs my help."

The chief nodded, ordering his men to tape off the scene and arrest the unconscious men as Naruto transformed his weapon into a wicked-looking gunblade. He pointed the blade downward and an explosion of crimson light appeared, shooting the boy into the sky where he saw Ruby shooting at an aircraft with her weapon's Sniper form. Returning his weapon to the Shotgun form, he spun the chamber around until the weapon took on an orange glow. An orange orb appeared at the front of his barrel. He pulled the trigger and the orange orb shot off toward the aircraft before exploding violently. He used the pump action to charge another shot of orange dust before firing again. He did this a couple of more times, causing explosion after heart-stopping explosion to rock the aircraft before it flew away, practically unscathed by the assault of the explosive rounds.

"Damn," Naruto swore to himself before replacing his Revolver-Style Gunblade on his back in its sheathed form. "Sorry I got here so late, Ruby. If the Vale Police Department was a bit faster and slightly more competent, I could have been able to help more."

As soon as he finished, he noticed a slightly older woman with blond hair and glowing green eyes wearing a white blouse tucked into a black business skirt and black stockings along with a tattered black cape with purple lining. "And who are you," she asked him sternly, causing Naruto's eyebrow to raise in curiosity.

"Naruto Uzumaki," he informed her. "Cashier at From Dust Till Dawn, the store that bum tried to rob, and student at Signal Academy."

"I see," she muttered to herself.

Before the two of them had realized what had happened, they were sitting in an interrogation room with the blond-haired woman pacing the room.

"I hope you two realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly," the blond huntress chastized. "You both put yourselves and others in great danger."

"They started it," Ruby said defensively.

Naruto was sitting calmly in the chair beside Ruby as though he didn't have a care in the world. "She's right, ya know," Naruto said. "If not for our...intervention, that dickless bum would have escaped with a lot of Dust."

"If it were up to me, you'd be sent home," the huntress continued, "with a pat on the back...and a slap on the wrist." Without hesitation, she lashed out at the desk with her riding crop, causing Ruby to retract her hands from the table. "But...there is someone here who would like to meet you both."

In walked a man with silver hair wearing green clothes of various shades carrying a tray of cookies and a cup of coffee. "Ruby Rose and Naruto Uzumaki," he said before leaning in to look at Ruby. "You...have silver eyes." He then turned to look at Naruto with a knowing smirk. "And you're a troublemaker."

Naruto scoffed while the huntress pulled up footage from their fight against the 'dickless bum', as Naruto so kindly called him. "So. Where did you two learn to do this?"

"Signal Academy," the two answered simultaneously.

"They taught you to weild two of the most dangerous weapons ever designed," the older man asked.

"One teacher in particular," Ruby said.

"I see." The man set down the plate of cookies in front of Ruby and Naruto. Naruto rolled his eyes as Ruby dug into the cookies like she'd been starved for days on end. "It's just that I've only seen one scythe weilder of that skill before. A dusty old Qrow. But I've never even seen a weapon quite like yours, Mister Uzumaki."

"Thash ma onkle," Ruby said with a mouth full of cookies before swallowing them. "Sorry. That's my Uncle Qrow. He's a teacher at Signal. I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing. Now, I'm all like..." she said before showing off some old moves she'd seen in kung-fu movies.

"I built my weapon to be something that nobody ever could or should be capable of using effectively," Naruto stated, catching the pair of adults attention. "Of course, my first try didn't have the Multi-Action Dust Revolver Chamber that it has now, but it got me more than my fair share of comments about how I could never hope to fight well with something as unweildy as her. A week later and several combat tests into my first semester and I had most seniors shaking when I took my baby out." He let off a slightly maniacle laugh. "Good times."

"So I've noticed," he said. "So what does an adorable girl and a troublesome Faunus do at a school designed to train warriors?"

"Well. I want to be a Huntress," Ruby said honestly.

"I guess it's the least I could do for my gramps for taking me in and giving me a decent paying job," Naruto said.

"So you want to slay monsters," he asked the two youths.

"Yeah. We only have two more years of training left at Signal and then we were going to apply to Beacon," Ruby said as Naruto nodded in acknowledgement. "See. My sister's starting there this year and she's trying to become a Huntress and I'm trying to become a Huntress 'cause I wanna help people. My parents always taught us to help others so I thought 'Well, I might as well make a career out of it.' Hehe. I mean, the police are alright, but Huntsmen and Huntresses are so cool! Ya know?"

"Do either of you know who I am," he asked.

"Professor Ozpin. Headmaster at Beacon Academy," Naruto answered with a bored look.

"Hm. Hello," Ozpin said.

"Pleased to meet you," Ruby responded.

"Meh."

"You want to come to my school," Ozpin asked.

"More than anything," Ruby said longingly.

"There are worse schools to go to," Naruto said offhandedly.

"Well...okay," he said after looking up at his Huntress friend for advice only for her to turn her nose up at him.

The following day, Ruby was hanging out with her sister Yang Xiao Long while Naruto sat quietly at the front of the jet taking them to Beacon Academy. Since he didn't hang out regularly with most people from Signal Academy with the exception of Ruby Rose, he preferred to spend time by himself. He was wearing another copy of the clothes he wore the day before.

However, if one looked closely, they could see a pair of blond ears similar to a canine twitching. His ears blended in with his hair so it was hard to notice unless you looked closely. You see. Naruto was born a Fox Faunus. His mother, Kushina Uzumaki, was a Fox Faunus while his father, Minato Namikaze, was a human. While he wished he inherited his mother's beautiful red hair instead of his dad's spiky golden hair, he was proud to say that he got her Faunus DNA.

Naruto was raised under the old White Fang's beliefs of peaceful coexistance between Faunus and humans by his mother and earned his father's strong sense of justice. However, they both died. Murdered in an attack against one of the Schnee Dust Corporation's Dust Mining Facilities where his father and mother both worked by this strange, more hateful and murderous White Fang. Shortly after their funeral, he was taken in by his grandfather who owned From Dust Till Dawn and even gave him a job as a cashier. Naruto loved the old man, but always hated being such a burden on him. It was one reason he wanted to become a Huntsman: to repay his grandfather for all that he had done for him and to make his parents proud.

Before he left, Naruto's grandfather gave him one last piece of advice. Find something or someone worth protecting with his life. Because when someone had something to protect, that is when their true strength comes out.

Looking around the jet, he could already see some people forming their own little groups. That suited him just fine. Just as he was almost comfortable enough to fall asleep for the rest of the ride, he saw someone, a rather beautiful woman standing in front of him. She had long black wavy hair and amber eyes complimented by a light purple eyeshadow flaring backwards. She wore a mildly overly large bow atop her head. His eyes wandered up and down her shapely body as he took in the clothes she was wearing. She wore a pair of black low-heeled boots and stockings that start off black by her hips, but fade to purple the closer they came to her shoes. She also wore a black bow on each arm along with a detached sleeve and silver band on her left arm.

Her dress consisted of a black buttoned vest with coattails, a white sleeveless undershirt that showed part of her midriff, a pair of white shorts that appeared connected to her undershirt with zippers running down each leg, though it looked mostly for decoration. The last piece was a detached black scarf that was wrapped around her neck.

"Hey," he said somewhat neutrally.

"Hey," she replied. "Is this seat taken?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "Not really." With those two words, she proceeded to sit down beside him. He could feel his fox ears twitch, though it was largely hidden by his spiky blond hair being the same shape and size as his fox ears.

"I never expected to see a Faunus attending Beacon Academy," she said in an off-handed manner.

"Yeah, well, I didn't expect to be coming to Beacon for two more years, so I guess we're both surprised with current events," Naruto said.

"So what happened to get you to go to Beacon early," she asked. "Did you graduate early or something?"

Naruto's mind went back to the 'interrogation' with Ozpin and chuckled slightly. "Or something."

She raised an eyebrow before reigning in her curiosity. "I'm Blake," she said, extending her hand to shake his. "Blake Belladonna."

Naruto took her hand into his and shook. "Naruto Uzumaki."

"So any reason you were checking me out earlier," she asked with a teasing smirk.

"Same reason you were checking me out before you approached me," he said plainly. "Not used to seeing many Faunus."

Blake appeared to freeze up. Naruto looked toward her from the corner of his eye. "I'm not going to tell anyone, so don't get your panties in a knot. Don't even understand why you'd try to hide it though."

"That's none of your business," she said fairly harshly, causing Naruto to shrug his shoulders.

"Whatever," he said before looking out the window. "Still got a bit to go before we reach Beacon. Don't wake me up unless the ship gets shot down."

Just as Naruto closed his eyes, a pair of familiar voices reached his ears.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NARUTO'S HERE TOO?!"

"Shhhh. Keep it down, Yang. He might be trying to sleep."

He released a pained groan as he fought his own body to fall asleep before someone bothered him. Sadly, his nap was not to be. The shouting woman heard his groan and turned toward him before rushing in his direction. Within moments, Yang had lept across the plane and landed with her rather shapely rump on his lap.

"Naruto," the blond-haired woman said fairly loudly as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "How have you been doing lately? Did you miss me?"

The woman was known as Yang Xiao Long. She had long flowing golden hair a tad darker than his own and soft violet eyes. She wore a tan vest with gold piping over a yellow, low-cut crop top with a black burning heart over her left breast. She wore a brown belt with a buckle, a pouch, and a golden symbol similar to the burning heart on her chest. She also wore black shorts under her belt, which resembled a pleated skirt from behind. Over the short shorts but under the belt was a white asymetrical back skirt. Aside from her orange infinity scarf, she wore very little jewelry. She also wore brown, knee-high platform boots made out of leather with orange socks of two different lengths. She only wore those orange socks because she knew that orange was Naruto's favorite color and that, in his younger years, he had a fair crush on her. On her left leg, she wore a gray bandana wrapped around the top of her boot. She also wore fingerless black gloves under her weapons, which resembled two yellow mechanized gauntlets with a black design.

Naruto sighed before looking lazily at Yang. "I _was_ about to go to sleep before you decided to jump on me."

Behind Yang, Ruby was running to catch up. "I'm so sorry, Naruto," she said with a whine at the end. "You know how Yang can be sometimes."

"At least she has clothes on this time," Naruto remarked, causing Ruby to blush a brilliant crimson.

The last time Yang had done this kind of thing to Naruto, she'd just gotten out of the shower as they were walking up to her room to do some studying together. Needless to say, Naruto and Ruby couldn't look Yang in the eye for a couple of months after the incident and any and all study nights would happen at Naruto's apartment instead. She and Naruto were like best friends in their younger years with Naruto having a crush on Yang and Yang thinking of Naruto as cute due to his fox features. As they got older, Naruto's crush seemed to fade slowly, but this seemed to cause Yang's to rise.

"So how have you been doing since we got the news that we were coming to Beacon early, Ruby," he asked, causing her to light back up.

"Well, I wish I'd been able to tell the gang about the opportunity, but Uncle Qrow was happy for us both," Ruby said. "He also told me to tell you not to accidentally cripple any students you end up sparring against."

This caused Naruto's head to fall flat. His weapon, Sunset Tempest, was...unique. However, several students mocked its uniqueness, earning them Naruto's ire. You know what they say about stepping on a fox's tail, right? Well, needless to say, the nurse had more than earned her money and a hefty bonus because of him that year.

"It's not like I intentionally tried to kill someone," he moaned as he huddled up in a corner and began to brood. "They mocked my precious Sunset Tempest. They deserved what I did to them and so much more." Ruby nodded with his sentiments.

Naruto and Ruby shared a love of weapons. The more unique, the more amazing it was to see them in action. For someone to mock a weapon was a sign of disrespect to both the maker of the weapon and the weapon itself and this would earn some form of punishment from the weapon lovers. It didn't exactly help that Ruby assisted him with the design of his weapon, though they admittedly felt they each went 'a bit' overboard with their designs.

Of course, Ruby's Sniper Scythe wasn't officially labeled a Weapon of Mass Destruction like Naruto's was due largely to the fact that Naruto's was incredibly heavy and could be used to blow up anything in his line of sight with either a pull of a trigger or a slash of his sword. Much to the chagrin of the teachers in Signal Academy couldn't confiscate his weapon for two reasons. One: by the various rules and regulations the school was founded on, so long as the student built their own weapon, they would be allowed to keep it. Up until now, most people didn't take advantage of that. Of course, Ruby Rose and Naruto Uzumaki were the notable exceptions. The second reason...

...quite simply, nobody could lift the damned thing. It was so damned heavy, it took five physically fit adults to even lift it off the ground and more would have been needed just to move it a few feet. How Naruto alone managed to lift the heavy monstrosity was a question that went unasked and unanswered for the sake of everybody's sanity.

"You've actually crippled people for making fun of your weapon," Blake asked. "What kind of weapon is it?"

Naruto grinned. "Normally, I'd whip her out right here and now, but that might scare the crap out of most of the students in the plane. I'll show her to you when we get off at Beacon." For a moment, Naruto paused in his train of thought and seemed to think over his last statement before blushing wildly. Blake, who noticed this, thought about what he said and blushed a similar shade of red. "That came out so wrong."

"Agreed," Blake replied after she'd turned away from him.

"Anyways, we're almost at Beacon, ladies," Naruto said as he looked out the window. "I'd suggest getting your stuff ready for when we land. Oh! Ruby! I managed to get two copies of the latest edition of Weapons and Huntresses Weekly at the airport earlier today." He pulled two magazines with a green cover and a huntress wearing a skimpy bikini holding a two-bladed sword in a provocative manner.

Ruby greedily grabbed one and opened it up. As her eyes skimmed the pictures, her nose began to bleed and a somewhat perverted giggle came from her lips. She wiped the blood off and looked up from her magazine. "You're such an awesome friend, Naruto. Where would I be without you?"

"Maybe you wouldn't be such a pervert," muttered Blake. Yang was standing beside her as they watched Naruto and Ruby 'read' their magazine.

"I somehow doubt that," Yang inserted. "Ruby loves weapons of all shapes and sizes. Naruto likes looking at scantily clad women. When they found that magazine, it practically fulfilled both of their fantasies." She cocked her head to the side. "Of course, sometimes I wonder if she's a lesbian or something the way they get so into that magazine so easily together."

Naturally, Ruby had heard her sister's comment and blushed wildly. "YANG," she cried in embarrassment. "STOP SPREADING RUMORS ABOUT ME!"

Quickly, she hid her copy of the ecchi magazine in her cloak before storming off. Naruto sighed, his best friend having left to gather her belongings and to escape her sister's teasing and rumor spreading, and decided to do the same, leaving Blake and Yang behind. As he approached his baggage, he saw a guy a little older than him with spiked blond hair looking ready to vomit as he rushed on by toward the closest restroom. Sadly, he didn't make it and ended up vomiting on another student's bags before running off and hiding from the likely to be irate student so he would avoid getting an ass kicking that likely would have come his way.

He chuckled to himself when he heard Yang and Ruby call him Vomit Boy. Definitely deserved that title. Especially so when he proceeded to puke shortly after the jet touched down.

Within moments of touching down, Yang had left Ruby to fend for herself so she could hang out with her friends. Luckily, Naruto was in the same boat as she was and he refused to leave her to her own devices. Suddenly, a couple of students ran past them, sending Ruby spinning toward a large bundle of suitcases. Worried about his friend, he sprinted over and gave her a hand up. Before he knew it, someone else had approached them and she looked royally pissed.

She had long, white hair done up in an off-center ponytail, at the base of which was a tiara that resembled icicles. Her eyes were icy blue and she had a crooked scar running down her left eye. She wore a light blue bolero jacket over a similarly colored thigh-length dress with a piece of black lace making up the neckline. The inside of the bolero was a bright red and the sleeves turn blue as they get closer to her wrists. On the back of her bolero was the Schnee Family crest, which resembled a snowflake. She wore a thin apple-shaped necklace with a pair of thin rectangular earrings. She also wore white, heeled wedge boots that went up to mid calf, the insides of which are lined red like her bolero jacket.

"What are you doing," she demanded.

"Sorry," Ruby said as she tried to apologize.

"Sorry," the white-haired girl said in an offended tone. "Do you have any idea of the damage you could have caused?"

Naruto stepped in between the girls and leveled a neutral glare. "Ease up, Princess," he said with a growl. "It's not her fault. She got knocked over by a couple of those other kids."

She suddenly snatched one of the suitcases off the ground and opened it. "This is Dust," she declared upon opening the suitcase. "Mined and purified from the Schnee Quarry."

"Uh," Ruby said as she tried to find the words to properly apologize.

"What are you two," she asked. "Brain dead? Dust! Fire! Water! Lightning! Energy!" As she spoke, she shook a bottle of crimson Dust and some of it was escaping the seal and made its way to Ruby. "Are you even listening to me?! Is any of this sinking in?! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

Just as Ruby was about to sneeze, Naruto pinched her nose shut, causing the reflex to sneeze to halt while his other hand snatched the bottle of Dust from the white-haired girl.

"What do I have to say for myself," Naruto asked. "Number one: you should check the seal on those bottles to make sure its air tight. We don't want or need anyone sneezing to blow us from here to Signal Academy if we can help it. Number two: you should apologize to Ruby. She already said she was sorry about knocking over your _precious_ luggage even though she would have been in the right if she decided to just walk past you. Number three: don't go waving around volatile substances so freely. I'd hate for a student to brush past you, knocking the bottle out of your hand and killing us in a massive fireball the size of your ego, Princess!"

"It's heiress, actually," called Blake as she walked over to the scene. "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."

"Finally," Weiss said in a moment of finally being recognized. "Some recognition."

"The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners," Blake added with a light glare.

"Of course," Naruto exclaimed. "Now I recognize that name. They're the company who pay Faunus workers less than minimum wage for something that a human would get paid fairly well to do recently."

"Wha...how dare...the nerve of..."

Ruby was giggling to herself while Weiss tried to say something before simply leveling a glare at Blake and Naruto before snatching the bottle of Dust from his hand and storming off in a huff.

"I promise I'll make this up to you," Ruby called out before sighing. "Guess I'm not the only one having a bad first day." She fell down until she was laying on the concrete. "Welcome to Beacon."

Suddenly, a shadow appeared to loom over her, offering her a gloved hand. "Hey. I'm Jaune."

Ruby picked herself up before swiping away at the imaginary dust on her skirt. "Ruby."

"Naruto," the other blond introduced as he shook Jaune's hand.

"Aren't you the guy who puked on the ship," Ruby asked with a snort.

A few moments later and the trio were walking through the large courtyard. "Look. All I'm saying is that motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on."

"I'm sorry, but Vomit Boy was the first thing that came to mind," Ruby said.

"Honestly, you're lucky to get a nickname like that," Naruto said. "There are dozens, if not hundreds, of much worse nicknames to get."

"Oh yeah," Jaune said. "Well what if I called you Crater Face?"

"Then I'd cave in your face," Naruto growled before snorting. "Besides, the explosion was averted and nothing else happened."

Jaune seemed to cower a bit. "Well, the name's Jaune Arc. Short. Sweet. Rolls of the tongue. Ladies love it."

"Do they," Ruby asked while Naruto simply raised his eyebrow slightly.

"They will," he defended. "Well, at least, I hope they will. My mom always says that...well, nevermind."

Ruby chuckled nervously before an idea came into mind. "Well, I've got this thing." Within moments, she brought out her crimson scythe, causing Jaune to jump back.

"Woah," he cried out in slight fear. "Is that a scythe?"

"It's also a customizable, high-impact sniper rifle," she said while loading a bullet into the chamber.

"What?"

"It's also a gun," she explained dully.

"That's cool," he said admiringly.

"Check out this baby," Naruto said before drawing Sunset Tempest into its Gunblade Form. "This is Sunset Tempest. A gunblade with a multi-action revolver-style chamber that allows me to switch between various elements and types of Dust. In addition to that, she also turns into a shotgun. Officially, it's been labled a Weapon of Mass Destruction."

"B...but, that lable is only given to weapons of such power that no army could hope to stand a chance against the weilder of such a weapon," Jaune said with a clear stutter. He did NOT want to be on the receiving end of a beatdown against Sunset Tempest.

Naruto gave off a sadistic grin. "I know," he replied. "And I'm the only one allowed to carry her."

"So what have you got," Ruby asked, eager to see another weapon.

Jaune lamely drew his sword and the sheath became a shield. "I've got this sword. And I've even got a shield too."

"Ooohh. So what do they do," she asked before touching the shield, which began to pop out of his hand into its sheath form before he ended up dropping it.

"The shield gets smaller so that...when I get tired of carrying it...I can just...put it away," he said lamely.

"Doesn't it still weigh the same," Ruby asked.

"Yeah. It does," Jaune replied.

"Well, I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons," Ruby admitted, trying to make Jaune feel somewhat better about himself. "I guess we did go a little overboard in designing our weapons."

"You two made those," Jaune asked, shocked at the new information.

"Of course," she said happily. "All students at Signal forge their own weapons! Didn't you make yours?"

"It's a hand-me-down," Jaune admitted. "My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war."

"Sounds like a family heirloom to me," Naruto grunted.

"Well I like it," Ruby exclaimed. "Not many people have an appreciation for the classics these days."

"Yeah," Jaune said weakly. "The classics."

"So why'd you help me out back there in the courtyard," Ruby asked.

"Well, my mom always says strangers are just friends you haven't met yet," Jaune said proudly.

"Do either of you know where we're going," Naruto said, causing the two to pause slightly.

"I don't know," Jaune said. "I was following you."

"Same here," Ruby admitted sheepishly.

Naruto sighed before raising his head in the air and taking a couple of deep sniffs. "I can smell Yang's perfume. If we follow that smell, we'll find the main hall where the other new students are congregating." Without warning, Naruto began walking toward the assembly hall with Jaune and Ruby behind him.

Jaune sniffed the air. "I don't smell anything."

Ruby giggled. "Naruto's a Fox Faunus," she said. "If he can get a good whiff of your scent, there isn't much you can do to avoid being found by him."

"Really," Jaune asked excitedly. "I've never met a Faunus before. I've only actually heard about them in the news."

"Don't believe everything you hear about Faunus in the news, Jaune," Naruto informed him. "A majority of us just want to live our lives in peace with the same rights as you humans. Those White Fang terrorists perverted a peaceful group who only wished to be seen as equals among humans. It's the Faunus who believe themselves superior to humans that you have to watch out for. They are the ones who won't hesitate to kill to try and get their point across and they are the ones who turned White Fang into a terrorist organization in the first place."

"You...feel really strongly about this subject, don't you," Jaune muttered.

Naruto snorted as he continued to follow Yang's trail of perfume. "Of course I am," Naruto said. "My mother was a White Fang activist. I'm just glad she died before she could see what the White Fang's become. If she knew, she'd be rolling in her grave."

"I'm sorry for bringing up such a sensitive subject," Jaune said.

"Don't apologize," Naruto said shortly. "I've gotten over it or else I'd have really caved your face in for bringing it up. It's ancient history and you just learned your first lesson about Faunus. Win-Win, if you ask me."

It didn't take much longer before the trio found themselves in the building filled to the brim with students. "Ruby! Naruto! Over here," called Yang over the other students muttering amongst themselves. "I saved you two a spot!"

"Oh," Ruby said before turning toward Jaune. "Hey! I gotta go! I'll see you after the ceremony!" With that, Ruby took off toward Yang followed closely by Naruto.

"Hey! Wait," Jaune said, but his attempts were futile. "Great. Where am I supposed to find a nice, quirky girl to talk to?!"

"How's your first day going, little sister," Yang said happily.

"You mean since you ditched me and Naruto and I nearly exploded," Ruby accused.

"Yikes. Meltdown already," Yang asked.

"No. I mean I actually nearly exploded," Ruby shot back.

"Are you being sarcastic," Yang asked in a mocking tone.

"I wish," Ruby exclaimed. "I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage! And then she yelled at me! And then, I almost sneezed and exploded. And then she yelled again. And I felt really, really bad and I just wanted her to stop yelling at me."

"YOU," shouted Weiss, causing Ruby to jump into Naruto's open arms in a bridal position.

"OH GOD IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN," Ruby cried as she held on tighter to Naruto's orange shirt.

"You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff," Weiss barked at Ruby.

"Oh my God," Yang said flatly. "You really almost exploded."

"It was an accident," Ruby said to Yang before Naruto set her down and turned to Weiss. "It was an accident!" In a few seconds time, she had a small pamphlet thrown in her face titled _Dust for Dummies and other Inadequate Individuals_. Now, Weiss was reading her a memorized version of one of those commercial endings where they say they aren't responsible for anyone blowing the crap out of themselves using their products, but encourage their consumers to use them in a safe and responsible manner. "Um."

"Do you really want to start making things up to me," Weiss asked.

"Absolutely," Ruby said, though it came out as more of a question before the pamphlet was forced into her hands.

"Then read this and don't ever speak to me," Weiss ordered.

"Ehhh. Sounds to me like you two just got off on the wrong foot," Yang suggested. "Why don't you start over and try to be friends? Okay?"

"Yeah," Ruby said excitedly. "Great idea, sis. Hello, Weiss. I'm Ruby. Wanna hang out," she asked whie extending her hand to the irate heiress. "We could go shopping for school supplies."

"Yeah," mocked Weiss. "And we can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys like tall, blond, and scraggly over here," she said as she jabbed her thumb at Naruto, who just narrowed his eyes.

"Really," Ruby asked hopefully.

"No."

"Wow," Naruto said flatly. "And here I didn't think you could be anymore of an ice queen."

Ozpin approached a microphone at the front of the stage and cleared his throat, catching the attention of all of the gathered students. "I'll...keep this brief. You've traveled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and aquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy. In need of purpose. Direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge will only take you so far. It is up to you...to take the first step."

With those words said, Ozpin walked away and Glynda Goodwitch, the woman Naruto and Ruby recognized as the Huntress in the interrogation room, stepped up to the podium. You will gather in the barn tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You're dismissed."

"He seemed kind of...off," Yang remarked.

"It was like he wasn't even there," Ruby confirmed.

"I'm a natural blond, ya know," called Jaune, causing the three girls and Naruto to roll their eyes.

That night, the students were all either roaming around or in their sleeping bags. Ruby was writing a letter as Yang plopped down onto her pillow. "It's like one big slumber party," the blond woman remarked.

"I don't think dad would approve of all the boys though," Ruby said sarcastically.

"I know I do," Yang said flirtatiously as she scanned the room. Various muscular guys were wearing only sleep pants of various colors and designs and flexing their muscles for the women who might be watching them. It wasn't long before Jaune, wearing a pair of baby blue footie pajamas walked by. "Ew."

As she looked past Jaune, she spotted Naruto. He only wore a pair of black shorts with a red swirl on his left leg. His legs were toned and seemed to twitch with his every movement. His chest was well-defined by an Adonis-like musculature. His chest also bore several scars, indicative of his dedication to his training and giving him an aura of a warrior.

Yang sighed longingly as she gazed upon the body of her sister's best friend and a good friend of their entire family. "You don't know what you're missing, Ruby," she said, causing Ruby to look up toward her best friend's state of undress. A small trickle of blood escaped her nose, which she quickly wiped away. Yang seemed to chuckle at this. "Well, at least it's good to know you still have a healthy interest in guys as well as that ecchi magazine you and Naruto love to read."

Yang was then hit by a pillow courtesy of Ruby. "Shut up," she said harshly.

"What's that," Yang asked, recovered from the pillow's blow, as she looked down at what Ruby was writing.

"A letter to the gang back at Signal," Ruby replied. "I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going."

"Awww. How cute," Yang remarked.

"Shut up," Ruby replied, hitting Yang with another pillow. "I didn't get to take my friends with me to school and it's weird not knowing anyone here."

"What about Naruto," Yang asked. "He's here. And what about Jaune. He's...nice. There you go! Plus one friend! That's a 100% increase!

"I'm pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend," Ruby said sadly. "Back to just Naruto and me."

"There's no such thing as negative friends," Yang explained. "You just made one friend and one enemy!" This time, a third pillow in the shape of a dog hit Yang in the face. "Look. It's only been one day. Trust me. You've got friends all around you. You just haven't met them yet."

As Ruby and Yang walked over to speak with Blake, Naruto was finding his way toward a woman wearing a bronze tanktop and red pajama pants with bronze lining similar to sweatpants. She had long red hair and vibrant green eyes. Their eyes made contact and they smiled to one another.

"Nice to meet you," Naruto said as he extended his fist. "My name's Naruto Uzumaki."

The redhead nodded in understanding before pounding fists with him. "My name's Pyrrha Nikos. It's nice to meet the first person outside of the military to get their weapon schematic filed away as a Weapon of Mass Destruction."

"It's nice to meet the Mistral Regional Champion and mascot for Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes," Naruto threw out, causing her to chuckle slightly.

"Yep," Pyrrha stated. "Unfortunately, its not very good for you."

Naruto let out a bout of laughter. "These days, when is anything ever good for you?" The two shared a good laugh. "So, if it's nothing too personal, what made you leave Vale to come to Beacon Academy, Pyrrha? I'm sure you could have gotten into any Huntsman and Huntress Academy you applied to with your resume."

"You know how it is," Pyrrha said. "I got tired of being treated like a celebrity. If I applied anywhere in Vale, that's all I'd be. But here. Here, I'm just Pyrrha Nikos, student at Beacon Academy."

"I suppose you have a point," Naruto admitted. "Being a celebrity must get pretty tiring when people always ask you for your autograph or a picture or something like that."

Pyrrha nodded. "What about you? What brings you to Beacon?"

Naruto looked out the window and into the night's sky. "I owe my grandfather a lot," he said. "He's taken care of me for as long as I can remember. He even helped enroll me in Signal. When he was young, he wanted to become a Huntsman, but then life happened and he had to abandon that dream. So...I plan on fulfilling his dream. He's done so much for me that it would be wrong of me not to do this for him."

"That's very kind of you, Naruto," Pyrrha said.

"Well, he's my last living relative that I know about, so I want to make him proud," Naruto said as he scratched the back of his head, unknowingly showing his ears to Pyrrha.

"You're a Faunus," she asked.

Naruto looked at her oddly before looking into the window and seeing his ears showing in the reflection. "Ah. Yeah," he said with a grin. "Because I got my dad's hair, it's usually pretty difficult to see my ears sticking out like they do. That's not a problem with you, is it?"

"Oh no," she said politely. "It's just that we don't have many Faunus in Vale and you're actually the first one I've met. I was just surprised is all."

The two turn away from one another, both sporting fairly large blushes. "So what do you think about the rumors going around about the teams? Four person squads? Two person squads? I've even heard a couple of students talking about teachers being in charge of a four person squad and helping them come together as a team while teaching them new skills and such."

"I think having a four person squad is how Beacon usually does things," Pyrrha said. "It definitely seems like the most logical explanation."

"Well, if that is true, I wouldn't mind having someone as skilled as you on my team," Naruto responded. "I've seen a couple of your matches on TV and I know for sure you're incredibly strong."

"I think being on your squad would be pretty fun too," Pyrrha admitted. "I want to see what your Weapon of Mass Destruction's capable of and what better way than by being teammates."

Naruto gave off a sadistic grin. "Sunset Tempest will blow your mind, Pyrrha. I guarantee it."

Pyrrha smirked back at him. "I look forward to it."

With those parting words, Naruto went to his sleeping bag, which wasn't far from Pyrrha's coincidentally, and went to sleep as the last light faded from the room.

The following morning, Naruto was by his locker, which was opened, and was seen digging through his various clothes. As he searched through his suitcase, he spotted a pair of black cargo pants and black combat boots. Digging deeper, he found a silver locket that belonged to his mother. Opening it, he saw dated pictures of both of his parents. He closed the locket and put it around his neck for luck. Just as he was about to give up on finding a decent shirt, he spotted an orange and black long-sleeved shirt and...his grandfather's old red short-sleeved coat with black flames at the bottom. After putting on the various items and placing Sunset Tempest in its collapsed form on the base of his back, he looked in the mirror and looked himself over.

His beret was on right and he only had to adjust his coat's collar once before he considered himself ready for his initiation into Beacon. As he walked past Jaune Arc, he spotted Pyrrha Nikos talking with Weiss Schnee about teams. "Hey, Pyrrha," he said, waving to the beautiful redhead.

She turned his way and smiled, waving back at him. "Hey, Naruto!" As she looked him over, her eyes settled on what she believed to be Sunset Tempest. "Is that your weapon?"

Naruto grinned and brought it out in its Gunblade Form. It's size dwarfed almost any weapon either of the girls had seen before. "Yep. This is my pride and joy, Sunset Tempest. It's only got two forms, but that's more than enough for any situation I might find myself in."

The intercom rang. "Would all first year students report to Beacon Cliff for initiation. Again. All first year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."

"Anyway, it was nice talking to you again, Naruto," Pyrrha said. "Good luck with the initiation."

"You too, Pyrrha," Naruto exclaimed as they all left for Beacon Cliff.

As everyone stood at the edge of Beacon Cliff on pannels, they saw Professor Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch wtanding in front of them. Ozpin had a cup of coffee in his hand while Glynda had some kind of data pad in her arms.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors," Ozpin stated. "Today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams," Glynda started. "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates...today."

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon," Ozpin picked up. "So it is in your best interest to pick someone with whom you work well. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

"What," Ruby exclaimed in shock and fear.

"After you've paired up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path or you will die," Ozpin said bleakly. "You will be monitered and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item as well as your standing and grade you appropriately. Now. Are there any questions?"

Jaune raised his hand weakly. "Yeah. Um. Sir?"

"Good," Ozpin said, ignoring Jaune's raised hand. "Now...take your positions."

Naruto stood beside an orange-haired girl and drew his Sunset Tempest, revealing its Gunblade Form, stunning many of the students save those who knew Naruto prior or saw his weapon in action.

"Uh. Sir," Jaune asked weakly again. "I've got a...a question." Without warning, Weiss shot off into the sky. "So...this...landing strategy thing...what is it? You're, like, dropping us off or something?"

"No. You will be falling."

Next to shoot off into the sky was a young man with a blond mohawk. "Oh. I...see. So, like, did you hand out parachutes for us?" Next up was Naruto, followed closely by the orange-haired girl.

"No. You will be using your own landing strategy," Ozpin said flatly.

"Uh huh," Jaune said as two more shot off into the heavens. Ruby and Yang shot off next. "What exactly is a landing strateGYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!"

As those last sylables were uttered, Jaune was shot off into the heavens.

The Initiation into Beacon Academy has begun.


End file.
